Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. II.djvu/289

Rh malaria, with its train of fevers, snakes, and musquitos, and man must fly.

We dined at the Castle Fusano, and were delighted by the view of the sea, which, lying open, without islands or rocks, rolled its foaming billows towards the sand-hills of the shore, which keep increasing in the mean time. Poor fishermen, of a wild appearance, dwell along the shore, in miserable huts. The Campagna, between Ostia and Rome, possesses but few remains of antiquity, but it affords splendid views of the Tiber, and of park-like meadows, grazed by vast herds of cattle and sheep. The Roman oxen are the most stately animals of their race. They pace along, with their lofty, beautifully-curved horns, in perfectly senatorial grandeur, and represent, in their way, the dignity of the old Roman Senate, far more worthily than the present, which represents it only in name.

Whit-Sunday, May 23d.—The day began with brilliant sunshine, the firing of cannon, and the ringing of the bells of the churches in the city. In Sweden, they say that the sun dances this day along the sky, and that angels travel up and down, between heaven and earth, the whole of the time from Easter to Whitsuntide.

In Rome this time is occupied by many ecclesiastical ceremonies. In one church the cattle are sprinkled with holy water. They are brought up for this purpose, ornamented with red ribbons, roses and various kinds of finery, in front of the church gate, whence they are sprinkled by a holy Father—and it is believed that they thence obtain the especial blessing of health and good luck. In another church, wax candles, silk,